A violin player would usually rest a rear end of the violin on one shoulder bone to bear one chin against the violin while playing it. To reduce the discomfort at the shoulder area being compressed by a hard body of the violin, it is a common practice to place a shoulder rest at a lower rear end of the violin. Such shoulder rest for violin or the like basically includes an elongated base configured for fitly bearing against the player's shoulder bone, and two spaced binding elements provided at two upper outer ends of the elongated base. The binding elements are separately tightened to outer edges of the violin or the like near the rear end thereof to fixedly connect the shoulder rest to the violin. Meanwhile, since a lower surface of the elongated base is directly pressed against the player's shoulder bone area, it is a common practice to fixedly attach a layer of air-permeable soft pad to the lower surface of the base, so that the shoulder rest is more comfortable for use.
To match with different configurations of violins or the like, as well as players' different preferences, the two spaced binding elements provided on the elongated bases of most currently available shoulder rests have adjusting means assembled thereto in advance, so that the two binding elements may be adjusted to space from each other by different distances depending on the body configuration of the violin or the like and the actual needs in use. Canadian Patent No. 2,262,290 owned by Canadian firm of The Kun Shoulder Rest Inc. discloses two spaced clamping devices for binding and locating purpose. A distance between the two binding and clamping devices may be adjusted corresponding to different widths at the lower rear end of the violin. However, there are usually only a few fixed distances available for such adjustment. For example, two groups of threaded holes are separately provided at two ends of the elongated base of the shoulder rest, and each of the two groups usually includes only three spaced holes. That is, the two binding elements on the shoulder rest may be adjusted to three different positions only. As a matter of fact, such shoulder rest for violin must be so designed that it may also be used with other different types of string instruments. Moreover, the player's preference and possible error in the size of the manufactured violin or other types of string instruments must also be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is apparently insufficient if the shoulder rest has only three fixed adjusting distances available for use.